Two ambulances and two vehicles from the hazardous area response team were dispatched to the scene.
Photograph: Alamy

Four people have been taken to hospital after a suspected chemical leak at a water treatment plant.

Emergency services were called to Biochemica UK in Teesside shortly before 11.30am on Friday. The four were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties after the incident at the plant on the Cowpen Lane industrial estate in Billingham.

A spokeswoman from the North East ambulance service said it had been called because it was a potentially life-threatening incident but on arrival it was believed this was no longer the case.

Two ambulances and two vehicles from the hazardous area response team were dispatched to the scene, as was the Cleveland fire brigade.

The Health and Safety Executive said it was aware of the incident and it would be “making initial inquiries and will be visiting the site to conduct an investigation”.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland police said officers attended the scene amid reports of a suspected chemical leak.

The fire brigade’s station manager, Ian Dixon, told the BBC that a chemical reaction had created a “very small gas cloud” but there were no off-site implications and “it was a very small-scale incident”.